The "second mum" of a flamboyant barrister who jumped bail today spoke of her relief after a Teesside court finally accepted he was dead.

Assault charges against barrister Barry Stewart were dropped five months after the 58-year-old's death from cancer at his luxury villa in Northern Cyprus, as reported in Friday's Evening Gazette.

The barrister, who worked in Middlesbrough and was well known on the Crown Court Circuit, had failed to turn up 17 times at Teesside Magistrates Court on four charges of assault in Middlesbrough in October and November 1998.

His partner of 30 years, Peter Stewart, who nursed him in his long fight against cancer, relayed news of his death to England last summer.

Muriel Lee, from Bradford, was with Mr Stewart when he died.

She described herself as being "like a second mum" to him.

Last month she told the Gazette the court's continuing doubts over his death were prolonging her grief.

She said last week's decision had left her "feeling a lot better about things".

The 73-year-old first met Mr Stewart when he was called to the bar in 1969.

He lived at the pub she ran - the Black Bull in Pudsey, Yorkshire - for two and a half years.

She said: "I absolutely loved him. He was debonair, good looking. I absolutely adored him."

Mrs Lee now plans to return to Northern Cyprus in March and said she intends visiting Mr Stewart's grave.

"I feel that I can settle now, it has been very distressing for me but thankfully it's all over," she added.

Mr Stewart, formerly of Ridge Lane, Staithes, graduated from Nottingham University and completed a post-graduate course in criminology at Cambridge.

He had earlier boxed at national level as a schoolboy and represented the region in athletics in field events.

During a short career in the prison service, he became the youngest prison governor then appointed, before being called to the bar in Leeds in 1968.

He later set up his own chambers in Middlesbrough, and was called to the New York bar in 1987 and the Irish bar in 1994.

There was shock among the legal community two years ago when it emerged Mr Stewart had been charged with several assaults on his pupils.

Around the same time he developed breast cancer which later spread to his bones. He moved to Cyprus in March to receive treatment.

Mrs Lee said the fact he was charged for hitting his pupils was "ridiculous".

Judge James Prowse said the court had wanted to be absolutely certain that Mr Stewart had in fact died before it discontinued the case.

After communications from the Crown Prosecution Service Judge Prowse said the Crown was "satisfied".

A notice of discontinuance has been served bringing the case to a conclusion and a warrant for Stewart's arrest has been withdrawn.